RPGWatch Feature: The Whole Game in My Hand #11

October 15th, 2008, 19:14

Once again, Mike 'txa1265' Anderson brings us a massive handheld roundup as he continues his quarterly quest to keep us informed on the hits and misses of RPG's on the GBA, DS and PSP. This month's full-length review is none other than BioWare's Sonic and here's a snip:

Combat itself is both the same and different than any game you have ever played. As I mentioned it is turn-based and features a menu-selection form of choosing actions. That all works in standard jRPG form familiar to anyone who has ever played a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. The character attributes impact turns in battle, damage done and defense from attacks. Where it gets interesting is the POW attacks. These are based on a time-based stylus tap system very much like playing Elite Beat Agents. Your success at tapping things in time or following the stylus guide determines how well you attack or defend with your POW move. Combine the side-scrolling chases, the menu-based attack system and the EBA-like POW moves and you have an interesting battle system that helps carry the game.

Another great review. I think I need to get Disgaea, but I'm having trouble deciding between FFIV and DQIV. I played and enjoyed FF1; I played, enjoyed and finished FFIII. I've never played a DQ game. I'm especially fond of the Wizardry and Ultima games. Any suggestions - should I get FFIV or DQ IV?

Thanks for another great write up. I bought FF4 and have been enjoying it the past few weeks. I'm also DEFINATELY getting DQ4. I've always been a huge fan of the DQ and FF series games since part 1 of both back when I was a kid. It would be hard for me to say one is better then the other, thats why I'm getting both. Should hold me off for the next few months. I play sparingly of course since spare time is short these days.

After reading the featured review for Sonic, you've made me add it to my list of games to get as well…damn you.

Thanks for those reviews, I like them a lot!
I already finished FF4 (never played the GBA version) and I just started playing Disgaea. I like both games although I haven't got very far with Disgaea yet. FF4 definitely looks better and is a much more traditional RPG. In Disgaea tactics play a much bigger part. Although your characters will level up afer a number of fights, your aim is clearing a (small) terrain with a given set of opponents. Sacrificing your 'teammates' if necessary (which makes sense, beeing a demon lord).

ShagnakAtWork

Originally Posted by amoebe
Thanks for those reviews, I like them a lot!
I already finished FF4 (never played the GBA version) and I just started playing Disgaea. I like both games although I haven't got very far with Disgaea yet. FF4 definitely looks better and is a much more traditional RPG. In Disgaea tactics play a much bigger part. Although your characters will level up afer a number of fights, your aim is clearing a (small) terrain with a given set of opponents. Sacrificing your 'teammates' if necessary (which makes sense, beeing a demon lord).

One thing I didn't like about Disgaea (and most of the similar strategy/RPG games) is that after a bit it's just not about strategy at all, but about getting a lot of levels. Like, when I played it, I did all the storyline-battles, and it was getting harder and harder, until at the end it was pretty much impossible (enemies were like 40 levels above me). Going to Gamefaqs, I found out I was supposed to be like level 70 for those fights, and the highest I had a lvl 34, a lvl 32, a lvl 30 and some in the high 20s. Turns out I was supposed to do the 'optional' fights many many times (I wonder why they call them optional).

Nice article, as always. Where do you find the time to play all these games?

I recently ordered Mazes of Fate, and still waiting for it. Having enjoyed the GBA original, I'm really looking forward to this one. I would have preferred a sequel (as I recall, the game ending hints at things to come), but a remake will do for now.

I played the original Dragon Warrior 4 on the NES twice over the years. In fact, I still remember a particularly nasty boss fight near the end which force me to devise quite an intricate strategy, and also the final boss who kept changing as the battle progress (a quite cool effect way back then, when RPG had little animations). Buying the DS version was a no-brainer for me, and I hope to get around to it soon enough. While trying it, I was surprised to see that the game feature a french localization as well as the english one, and that the french version is actually very good (for what I could see). After the awful french canadian of Phantom Hourglass, it's definitly refreshing.

As for FF4, I'm still on the fence about getting it. It's a good game, but I simply don't have enough time (still got quite a lot of games to play).

Now, I have to get back to trying to get a &?/$&?$%? scale from a drake in Etrian Odyssey.

A minor thing: The blue game titles and the fact they actually underline when you hover over them has fooled me into thinking they are actually links.

I'm also wondering if it's not better to use a 10/10 scale if you're already using .5 steps.

And a small note that might be interesting to all handheld gamers outside of the US. All DS games are region free, so if you import the games handheld gaming becomes much less expensive. Especially if you're used to european prices. I can recommend Play-Asia who usually have all DS games for $34.90 or less and a few $ shipping. I picked a few titles mentioned in this review.

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Another thing. I don't know if anyone has been following the announcements of the Tokyo Game Show that just took place, but there are many more great DS RPGs yet to come.

The most interesting one is probably The Another World which is a collaboration of Level-5 (developer of DQ VIII and soon to be released DQ IX) and world famous animation studio Studio Ghibli! It will feature an actual spellbook which you'll have to use throughout the game, and what a spellbook it is. Some pictures at the links below.

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However, I had some notes concerning Sonic RPG review. First, music really seemed awful, painful to hear even, for me. And judging by the people on different forums, that's how most folks think about it. Second, stylus-only controls are usually ok, but complete lack of D-pad support for mothement is still not good to my mind. Both, however, are ultimately matters of viewpoint. I've noticed author complaining about lack of touch control in other reviews (like DQ4) - while for me having to use stylus at all is a disadvantage and not being able to use button-only controls for most of the time is a huge disadvantage.

Well ,i have to say i really dont enjoy the stylus-only,and i really dont think the combat of sonic is fun.I will enjoy the game a lot if the PWM dont require me to use the stylus.The same can apply to the other DS games which require using stylus.For example the It will more suitable to me if using stylus is for the convenient of control no for the wii like game style.

I find it is hard for me to consider the ff3 being a good rpg.The game design level of this game remaines at the level of ,as the game come from, FC.